Plague

Plague-chapter 12

"Wheeljack is here."

Ratchet looked up and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his partner outside the glass wall. Optimus and the Decepticon Seekers, by then, looked quite comfortable in each other's presence, but Wheeljack still shifted shyly on his peds as he stood among them with a large case in his hand. Ratchet straightened for a moment to go over to him, but saw Thundercracker already telling him where to go in and find the coveralls, for which he was grateful - it was right at that moment that a shaky vent brought his attention back to the small mech lying before him.

A pair of faint, but definitely red, optics flickered to life and looked around weakly. Frenzy stayed motionless as he waited for his twin to find him and when he finally did, they just starred at each other for a moment before a small smile broke on Rumble's cracked lips.

"Hey, Zee." the feeble words brought a deep sigh of relief from Ratchet and Swoop smiled brightly. He turned around to greet Wheeljack, giving him the same smile. The mechanic moved to set up the deradiator where Perceptor showed him and Swoop turned back to the soft gasp Frenzy let out.

"Y-you can see!" he exclaimed quietly, earning a chuckle from Ratchet.

"One problem solved." he said and leant down to the mini-mech, "How are you feeling?"

The mini-con's gaze was clear now and he did not seem as delirious as the first time he awoke, which was a good thing and now Ratchet dared to ask him this question. Rumble re-focused his optics on the older medic, his vision was still blurred, but it was better than nothing. He needed a moment to decide what exactly he was feeling and needed to collect his strenght to speak.

"Bit better." he whispered, "Jus' cold... and I can't feel... pain, just up from my chest."

At that, Frenzy's smile turned into a frown, "Isn't that... bad?"

Ratchet sighed and scanned Rumble again. He was aware of a hole on the cassette's waist, and even though it was covered he knew it was deep, but he had to tend to more serious matters first - it was now that he could pay attention to the corrosion caused wounds, that one in particular. He didn't wonder before that Rumble couldn't move, it was because of his energon leaks and low reserves, but now it had an entirely different reason.

"Can you move your hand?" The medic asked and watched as the mini-mech slowly curled in his digits. He nodded, "You're right, Frenzy, it's... not good. The corrosion had severed your backstrut, Rumble, but I heard you have a neurosurgeon on base."

"Yeah..." Frenzy nodded slowly, "Bombshell."

Ratchet gave a nod. "He should be able to treat this problem. After we treated this problem." he pointed at a rust spot on Rumble's chest. The older Autobot looked up to check on Wheeljack, he would need his partner shortly, but now he turned back to the shivering mini-con.

"We have successfully inserted the batteries," he said calmly, "and your spark-readings are satisfactory. How's the pain?"

"Bearable." came the quiet answer after a few moments.

"Alright. I have numbed your pain receptors a little, though you must understand I cannot shut them off completely. Since you have no circulation now, we could only give you local suppression. I'm afraid I can't do more for you until we can find a cure." Ratchet glanced up and smiled a little when his gaze met Wheeljack's, "Except for maybe one thing."

With that, Ratchet made his way over to the mechanic, leaving the three mechs for the time being. Swoop looked after him, trying to see what he was picking out of Wheeljack's case when again Frenzy's voice brought his attention back to the cassette twins.